


a duet for me and you

by eufoeria



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ficlet Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 21:37:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9258284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eufoeria/pseuds/eufoeria
Summary: a series of ficlets set in various aus





	1. black swan

**Author's Note:**

> this is just a place to put short, not closely edited things i may or may not expand on. i kind of got some writers block, so i wrote this as a warm up to help get me motivated again. if you want to give me a prompt or ask for a continuation of something, leave a comment! I definitely can't promise to fill it, but it helps give me feedback with regards to which chapters you like more!

Woohyun squinted up at the ominous brick building before him. He sighed and opened the car door, then let his six-year-old son, Hyunseok, out of his car seat. The little boy clambered out of the car and immediately began tugging on Woohyun’s hand to drag him inside the dance studio.

The boy had been begging for  _ months _ to start ballet classes, and Woohyun had finally relented. It wasn’t just the idea of his  _ son _ taking ballet that held him back from enrolling Hyunseok (“You’re such a neanderthal,” Kibum had sneered). There was also the matter of tuition, shoes, and the outfit he had to wear to classes.

Woohyun considered himself a 21st-century man. He wasn’t prejudiced or anything; after all, he himself liked men and women, though his dating life had become kind of non-existent since he became a single parent. He just didn’t want his kid getting bullied or anything. He knew how mean kids could be.

After many heart-wrenching sobs and tearful puppy-eyes from Hyunseok, Woohyun gave in and bought the necessary materials, and today was Hyunseok’s first lesson.

“Daddy, hurry up!” Hyunseok whined, stamping his foot on the ground.

“Okay, okay.” Woohyun shouldered the bag with his shoes and shut the car door. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yes! Let’s go!”

Hyunseok used his small hand to grip Woohyun’s, and together they walked inside the building. There was already a group of mothers and their children clustered outside the door chatting excitedly like old friends. They were all dressed up in pink leotards and tights, though there were two other boys dressed in the same black shorts and white shirt Hyunseok was wearing. Woohyun breathed a small sigh of relief.

“Oh, hello!” One of the young mothers smiled at Woohyun and stuck out her hand to shake. “Are you two new?”

“Er, yeah.” Woohyun shook her hand awkwardly and placed it on top of Hyunseok’s head. “This is Hyunseok and he’s here for Beginner’s Ballet.”

“Oh, wonderful! The teacher’s excellent, you’ll love him!” she gushed.  _ Him? _ “You have to meet him before class starts!” She smiled and placed her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “Baby, will you take Hyunseok and his daddy to meet Mr. Kim?”

The little girl nodded her head vigorously. She turned to Hyunseok and grabbed his hand. “Follow me!”

She led them into the dance room where several more mothers were helping their daughters put on their ballet shoes or tying their hair up with pretty pink ribbons.

Woohyun spotted the ballet instructor talking to one of the parents already. He was the only other adult male in the room and he was wearing black tights with a neatly tucked in black shirt. He felt a weird tingle go down his spine as the instructor caught his eye, then excused himself and began to walk towards them.

“Mr. Kim!” The little girl ran over and hugged his leg. “This is… um…”

“Hyunseok,” Woohyun said, then flushed. “Um, I mean, my son is Hyunseok. I’m Nam Woohyun.”

“Kim Sunggyu,” he smiled, then extended his hand. After shaking, Sunggyu knelt down to Hyunseok’s eye level. “Hello, Hyunseok. I’m very excited to have you in my class.”

Hyunseok grinned and hid his face against Woohyun’s leg. Woohyun cleared his throat. “He’s a bit shy.”

“I can see that. Don’t worry, we’ll get used to each other soon.” Sunggyu flashed one more smile to Hyunseok then stood again. “I don’t get many fathers in here, let alone fathers with their son. That’s very admirable of you.”

Woohyun swallowed thickly and tried to focus on Sunggyu’s face and not his lean muscles or the way his legs looked in those tights or-- “Um, yeah,” he blurted, “That’s me. I support him no matter what.”

“That’s good,” Sunggyu replied. A silent, tense moment stretched on a bit too long before Sunggyu glanced at the clock on the wall and his expression morphed to one of surprised. “I have to start class now. Does Hyunseok have proper shoes?”

Woohyun shook himself from his stupor and shrugged the bag off his shoulder. “Um, yeah, black ones.”

“Okay, you should help him put them on before class begins.”

Woohyun nodded and watched as Sunggyu walked off to speak with other parents as the rest of the students began to enter the classroom. He didn’t pull his eyes away until he felt an insistent tug at his shirt.

“Daddy, my shoes,” Hyunseok whined. He’d already removed his tennis shoes and was holding them up for Woohyun to take.

“Uh, right.” Woohyun pulled out the brand new pair of ballet shoes and knelt down to steady Hyunseok as he clumsily slipped them on his feet. Just as he was finishing, Sunggyu clapped loudly twice and announced that it was time for class to start.

Woohyun grinned and pulled Hyunseok into a tight hug. “Have fun, monkey. I’ll be right outside.”

“Daddy!” Hyunseok giggled, squirming in his grasp. “I’m not a monkey!”

“You’re a monkey until I say you’re not,” Woohyun growled playfully, then pressed a kiss against his cheek.

“It’s starting,” Hyunseok whined, and finally, Woohyun let go. He waved goodbye one last time, then walked out the classroom to sit with the other moms.

Just outside the doors of the studio space, there was a waiting area with benches and big windows, allowing the mothers to see and hear what was going on inside the classroom. Woohyun thought it might be a good time to get some work done on his phone, but he found himself instead watching as Sunggyu and the kids went through several different exercises focused in stretching their feet.

He was so focused on the scene inside the dance studio that it took him a good ten minutes to notice the other moms staring at him.

“What’s your name?” one of them finally asked. Woohyun jumped, then furrowed his brow, pointing to himself in confusion. She laughed. “Yes, you.”

“Nam Woohyun,” he mumbled, then turned to look out the window once more.

“Your son is so cute,” another mother commented, and the other women hummed in agreement. “Do you know any experience in ballet?”

“Um, no, not really.” Woohyun shifted awkwardly in his seat. “I was more into singing as a kid.”

She lifted her brows in surprise. “I’m surprised you let your son enroll then.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Woohyun growled, feeling a bit defensive. Even if he had struggled a bit with it at first, that doesn’t mean  _ they _ had to know that too.

“I meant no offense,” she said gently, raising her hands in defense. “Hyeyoung-ssi and Chunhwa-ssi both bring their sons, but they both took ballet all the way up through high school. It’s rare for someone with no knowledge of dance to bring their son to ballet school, that’s all.”

“Oh,” Woohyun replied. He scratched the back of his neck, feeling awkward. Sunggyu, the instructor, had said the same--how he was brave or something for letting his son enroll. Now that they were here and he’d seen how happy it made Hyunseok, he didn’t feel particularly brave. Not when he could have made his son this happy months ago by agreeing in the first place.

“Sunggyu-ssi is a great teacher,” one of the mothers sighed. The rest smiled and nodded in agreement. “All the kids love him.”

“He seems nice,” Woohyun hummed in agreement. He stared out the window, lost in thought, oblivious to the fact that everyone else in the room had directed their gazes to him.

Half an hour later, class was finally over, and the first of the students were heading towards the waiting area to be reunited with their mothers. Woohyun excused himself and slipped back inside the studio room and walked over to where his son stood, hugging Sunggyu goodbye.

“See you next week,” Sunggyu said cheerily. “And remember to practice!”

“I will! I promise!” Hyunseok gave him one last squeeze before running into Woohyun’s arms.

Woohyun grinned and lifted him into his arms. “How was class, bud?”

“It was fun!” Hyunseok shouted right into Woohyun’s ear, causing him to wince.

Sunggyu grinned and walked up to them. “Hyunseok’s a very talented dancer,” he said with a smile. “I’ll see you both next week, I hope.”

Woohyun nodded and smiled. “Definitely. See you next week.”

Hyunseok chattered excitedly about “Mr. Kim” the entire car ride home. Woohyun glanced at his son in the rear view mirror at a red light and said, “It sounds like you love Mr. Kim more than you love me.”

Hyunseok hummed, then declared, “I’m going to marry Mr. Kim!”

Woohyun choked on his spit and swerved halfway into the other lane before correcting himself. “You’re what!?”

“But don’t worry, daddy,” Hyunseok said matter-of-factly, “You’re still my daddy, but Mr. Kim is going to be my wife. I mean husband.”

“No way.” Woohyun shook his head. “Vetoed. You’re too young to get married.”

Hyunseok furrowed his brow. “When can I get married?”

“When you’re thirty.”

“That’s older than daddy is!” Hyunseok groaned. “That’s like… a lot of years!”

“Yeah, yeah, keep whining. You still can’t marry Mr. Kim.”

Hyunseok growled at him from his car seat. “I’m going to ask Mr. Kim next week then and he’ll say yes and we’ll run away together!”

Woohyun barked out a laugh at that, imagining the look on Sunggyu’s face. He couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he said, “Next week then.”


	2. the sun after rain

When Sunggyu walks into the apartment, it feels too cold. The emptiness is palpable, like a mold it infects every surface, every nook of this once vibrant home. He turns at the sound of nails clicking on floorboard and sees the reason he came.

“Hi, Kongdduk,” Sunggyu coos at the dog, who walks quickly into his embrace. Sunggyu hugs the warm body tightly to his chest even as it tries to lick his face. He’s never liked dogs--he told Boohyun this when he brought the puppy home from the shelter, but, as if it were inevitable that he should fall in love with every part of Boohyun, Sunggyu came to love Kongdduk as well.

“Poor baby,” Sunggyu says quietly as the dog barks and whines happily, “You’re probably starving, huh?”

He wipes away a stray tear that managed to leak out of his eye and begins to look for its food. Sunggyu remembers when Boohyun had moved the dog food to one of the upper cabinets; it was the day after he came home to kibbles strewn all over the kitchen floor and the bag torn to pieces. He’d found Kongdduk just feet away, sleeping off his food coma. Sunggyu still has the picture on his phone.

Kongdduk scarfs down the food, and Sunggyu takes pity on him and pours him an extra half a bowl. He rubs the dog’s head affectionately as he eats, then pushes himself to stand. “Time to pack.” Kongdduk looks up at him inquisitively, as if asking him why. Sunggyu manages a small smile for the first time in days. “Any favorite toys I should know about?”

It doesn’t matter. Sunggyu throws them all into his bag, the bowl for food and water too. He briefly considers heading into the bedroom to grab the dog bed too, but Sunggyu remembers that Kongdduk never used it anyway. He always slept on the bed with Boohyun, ever since he was a puppy.

“Leash, leash,” Sunggyu mutters, rifling through the kitchen drawers. He finally finds it, and hooks the end around Kongdduk’s collar. “Ready to go?”

Kongdduk tilts his head cutely, as if he still doesn’t understand what’s happening, or why. Sunggyu swallows thickly. “We have to go now.”

He tugs on the leash to lead Kongdduk out the door, but the dog won’t budge. It whines at him, shaking its head. Sunggyu feels his throat tighten. His voice cracks when he says, “I know, Kongdduk-ie. I know, but we have to go. You can’t live here anymore.”

When Sunggyu tugs on the leash again, Kongdduk whines and barks, then lays down completely, refusing to budge. Sunggyu quickly wipes away the tear that runs down his cheek, but it’s followed by another and another, until his knees give out, and he’s crying openly on the floor of the empty, dead apartment.

Sunggyu isn’t really aware of time passing until he feels a cold, wet nose nudging his hand away from his face. He sobs once when Kongdduk climbs into his lap and starts licking the tears away. He sobs because even though he’s just a dog, Kongdduk loves him in a way his master never did.

“I miss him too,” Sunggyu says after a while, voice hoarse. “But you can’t stay here. His mom will give you to a shelter, okay? Boohyun wouldn’t want that.”

As if suddenly sensing something, Kongdduk starts barking at the door. Sunggyu tries to quiet him, but freezes when he hears the door swing open and a voice mutter, “He has a dog?”

Sunggyu pushes himself up as quickly as he can, straightening his clothes and wiping his face free of any leftover tears, but he knows that his eyes are still red and swollen, and it will be obvious to whoever just walked in that he’d just been crying.

A man walks into the apartment.

“Who the hell are you?” he asks warily, and immediately Sunggyu knows it must be the brother. Boohyun had mentioned him a lot, that he’d had a brother three years younger that still lived in Seoul.

“I’m Kim Sunggyu,” he replies. “I’m uh…” He glances at the leash in his hand and the dog staring alertly at the stranger in the door. “I’m here for the dog.”

Woohyun scoffs and nods at Sunggyu’s stuffed backpack. “You look like a robber to me.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Sunggyu spits back. He closes his eyes and bites back his anger. “I--You’re... Woohyun, right? Boohyun’s brother?” Woohyun’s eyes narrow, but he nods in affirmation. “I went to school with your brother. We were in a club together in college; he was my senior and… we were friends.” Sunggyu tightens his grip on Kongdduk’s leash. “I looked after Kongdduk-ie sometimes, and he always said his mom hated dogs, so I thought…”

“You thought you could just come here and take his stuff?” Woohyun asks quietly. “You’re not even related to him.”

Sunggyu doesn’t really have a retort to that, so he lowers his eyes to the floor. Boohyun had always made it clear that they were friends, nothing more. “I’m sorry.”

“What’s in the backpack?”

“Just dog toys.” Sunggyu shrugs it off and begins opening the compartments to show him. “A water and food bowl, a ratty blanket he’s had since he was a puppy. That’s it.”

Woohyun frowns as he inspects the bag and finds everything to be true. He sighs and squats down on the floor in front of Kongdduk. “I guess you’re telling the truth.” He pauses and hesitantly reaches out to pet Kongdduk. “My apartment doesn’t allow dogs, and mom would never take him.”

“I’ll take good care of him,” Sunggyu says quietly. “I’m the only other person he really knows. Please, just let me take him.”

Woohyun is quiet for a minute, just stroking the dog’s head as it looks up at him with big eyes. He sighs. “Go. Just… take him and go, before mom comes by and freaks out.”

Sunggyu doesn’t need to be told twice, and settles on scooping Kongdduk into his arms so as not to linger in the apartment where he is so obviously unwelcome. He doesn’t set Kongdduk down until they’re outside the building, but still has trouble pulling him down the street and away from the only home he’s ever known. The dog seems defeated by the time they reach Sunggyu’s apartment, and Sunggyu doesn’t blame him.

The next two days, Kongdduk doesn’t eat and hardly drinks. Sunggyu would worry, but he’s not eating much himself. He took time off of work to grieve, but spends most of his days sitting on the floor, absentmindedly petting the dog and mumbling, “I miss him too.”

On the third day, his phone rings. He checks the number, but he doesn’t recognize it; however, the voice on the other end of the line when he picks up is strangely familiar.

“Hello?”

“Hello? Is this Kim Sunggyu?” the man says.

Sunggyu hesitates for a moment. “Yes, can I help you?”

“This is Nam Woohyun.” The man clears his throat awkwardly. “We met the other day at my brother’s--at Boohyun’s apartment.”

“Oh!” Sunggyu shifts the phone to his other ear and stands. “Right, Woohyun. I--I’m sorry about that. It was really inconsiderate of me to--”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize,” Woohyun sighs. “You were right to take the dog. It’s just, with everything going on, it was a bit of an unpleasant shock, you know?”

“I understand.” Sunggyu hesitates a bit before asking, “How did you get this number?”

“My brother always set his phone password to my birthday,” Woohyun chuckled weakly. “I wanted to apologize and I figured your number would be there.”

“Oh,” Sunggyu replies, “Well, thanks then. I’m… I’m really sorry about your brother, by the way.”

“Yeah,” Woohyun says quietly. The conversation stalls for a moment, the air becoming heavy with unspoken grief. Woohyun asks suddenly, “Would you like to come to the funeral?”

Sunggyu tightens his grip on the phone as he feels his heart squeeze. “Can I?”

“Of course. The funeral is tomorrow afternoon, if you can make it.”

“I’ll be there.” Sunggyu’s voice is small but steady. “I want to come.”

Woohyun is quiet for a moment. “I’ll text you the details. See you tomorrow then, Sunggyu-ssi.”

“See you tomorrow.”

And just like that, Woohyun’s voice is gone, and Sunggyu is alone in his apartment once more. He sighs and sets the phone down, and begins to berate himself for agreeing because now he has to find a black suit.

When he arrives at the funeral the next day, Sunggyu is apparently not the only friend of Boohyun’s Woohyun had invited. There are quite a few people there that he knows from their school days, but he ignores them all when he sees the open casket at the front of the room which he approaches with shaking hands.

Sunggyu takes a shuddering breath when he looks into the casket. There he is, dressed in casual clothing and looking as if he were simply asleep. He doesn’t look like he’d been in a car wreck, and Sunggyu is thankful for that.

“Thank you for coming,” a quiet voice murmurs from beside him.

Sunggyu jumps and turns, realizing that Woohyun had come to stand beside him without him noticing. Sunggyu nods and turns back to Boohyun’s body. He rests a hand on the edge of the casket and squeezing, wishing that he could just reach out and touch. “Thanks for inviting me. It means a lot.”

They stand there in thoughtful silence for a moment before Sunggyu finally sighs and withdraws his hand. He turns and walks back to sit in one of the pews and wait for the service to start. He’s surprised when Woohyun sits down next to him.

“How did you know my brother again?” Woohyun asks, continuing to stare directly ahead rather than at Sunggyu’s face.

“We met in college. Your brother was a senior in a writing club I was in.” Sunggyu remembers it like it was yesterday, the minute he walked into the clubroom to see Boohyun’s smiling face.

“You’re a writer then?”

“I’m an editor,” Sunggyu replies, “my career as a freelance writer never really took off. Your brother always read my stuff though.” _Until I stopped letting him, afraid of what he might find._

“Oh, wow,” Woohyun says. “I just help run the family restaurant. I can cook, but I think Boohyun got all the creative genes of the family.”

Sunggyu smiles a bit at that. “I’m sure that’s not true, Woohyun-ssi. Besides--” He shoots Woohyun a look that might be described as playful. “Your brother wasn’t that great of a writer either. That’s why he was just a regular office worker.”

His comment manages to make Woohyun laugh a bit, so Sunggyu counts it as a win. He’s glad--he didn’t want Boohyun’s remaining family to hate him.

Woohyun smiles at him warmly. “I’m sorry my brother never introduced us, but it sounds like he’s mentioned me before.”

“Oh, yeah, a total brother complex. He really loves--” Sunggyu stops and swallows thickly. “He really loved you a lot.”

Woohyun sits there quietly for a moment, soaking in the quiet murmur of the guests. His hands are balled up on his knees. He says quietly, perhaps to Sunggyu but perhaps to no one in particular, “Sometimes I feel like I hardly knew him. After he left--well, you probably knew him better than I did before he--” at this, Woohyun swallows, like the word is too heavy to force out of his throat, “--before he died.”

Sunggyu considers that before shaking his head. “I don’t think so, or at least--maybe we only knew him in pieces.”

He wants to say something more, but he can’t think of what, and his throat is closing up anyhow. Soon, the tears will come again. Another tidal wave of grief that when it hits feels more like a tsunami. Sunggyu is still biting his lip in an attempt to hold himself together when Woohyun lets out a quiet sob next to him.

The service is beautiful, but never half as beautiful as Boohyun had been in life, Sunggyu decides. There’s the same speech about celebrating Boohyun’s life by living out our own. He thinks maybe he gets a glimpse of that when Woohyun grabs his hand as the ceremony nears its end, but it’s a candle in a hurricane, too fragile to hang hope on.

As he’s leaving the church, Woohyun stops him.

“Would you like to go get some coffee?” he asks, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Sunggyu is properly shocked.

“I--I have to go walk Kongdduk-ie,” Sunggyu mumbles, but the excuse sounds lame in his mouth.

“We can go to one of those outdoor cafes,” Woohyun suggests. “I just--” he sighs heavily. “I want to know my brother’s pieces.”

Sunggyu’s eyes widen. “You remember that.” It’s more of a question than a statement. “I--I suppose it would be fine. I’d like to know more about him as well.”

Woohyun’s lips quirk in a flash of a smile, and Sunggyu’s breath is knocked out of him like a kick to the chest. It hurts. They look so alike it fucking hurts. He hadn’t noticed before when Woohyun laughed because he hadn’t dared look at him directly. It had been a long time since he’d looked at Boohyun directly. Both men reminded Sunggyu of the sun.

“Did you walk or take the train?” Woohyun asks, falling into step with him as easily as one might put on a well-worn coat.

Sunggyu, still slightly dazed by the sudden blast of metaphorical sunlight, keeps walking.

He keeps moving forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote the first 3/4 of this months ago, maybe over a year? but i kept coming back to the idea. i kind of liked the opening, and the open ending came pretty naturally, considering how long it had been since i looked at it.


End file.
